[Part I, Section 1]
ADMINISTRATION OF THE LAW

I.1.1

IT is now our painful duty to report, that in the greater part
of the districts which we have been able to examine, the fund, which the 43d
of Elizabeth directed to be employed in setting to work children and persons
capable of labour, but using no daily trade, and in the necessary relief of
the impotent, is applied to purposes opposed to the letter, and still more to
the spirit of that Law, and destructive to the morals of the most numerous class,
and to the welfare of all.

I.1.2

The subject may be divided, with respect to the mode of relief, into In-door
Relief, or that which is given in the workhouse, and Out-door Relief, or that
which is not given in the workhouse; and with respect to the Objects of Relief,
into those who are, and those who are not Able-bodied.

[OUT-DOOR RELIEF]

I. OUT-DOOR RELIEF OF THE ABLE-BODIED.

I.1.3

THE great source of abuse is the Out-door Relief afforded to the Able-bodied
on their own account, or on that of their families. This is given either in
kind or in money.

1. OUT-DOOR RELIEF OF THE ABLE-BODIED IN KIND.

I.1.4

The Out-door Relief of the Able-bodied, when given in kind, consists rarely
of food, rather less unfrequently of fuel, and still less unfrequently of clothes,
particularly shoes; but its most usual form is that of relieving the applicants,
either wholly or partially, from the expense of obtaining house-room. As this
last mode of relief is extensively prevalent, and productive of important consequences,
both direct and indirect, we shall dwell on it at some length.

I.1.5

Partial relief from the expense of obtaining house-room is given, or professed
to be given, whenever the occupant of a cottage or an apartment is exempted
on the ground of poverty from the payment of rates. In a few places, among which
are Cookham (Berks), and Southwell and Bingham (Notts), every tenement is rated,
and the whole rate is collected: but, as a general statement, it may be said
that the habitations of the labourers are almost always exempted from rates
when the occupant is a parishioner, and are frequently exempted when he is not
a parishioner. The distinction thus made between parishioners and non-parishioners
is one among the many modes in which the Law of Settlement and the practice
of relief narrow the market, and interfere with the proper distribution of labour.
It perhaps is better that all the labourers should be exempted than that those
who have sought work at some distance from their homes should be thus punished
for their enterprise and diligence. But the evil effects of a general exemption
of all who plead poverty are shown by Mr. Bishop, in his Report from St. Clement's,
Oxford.*1

"The only peculiarity (in that parish, as distinguished from the neighbouring
parishes) is to be found in the extent of the speculation for building small
tenements, and in some of the circumstances which have attended that speculation.

"It is impossible to estimate, with anything like accuracy, the number of new
houses, but there are whole streets and rows built in the cheapest manner.

"The rents are, in fact, levied to a considerable degree upon those who pay
rates. In the first place, by the abstraction of so much property from rateable
wealth, the remainder has to bear a heavier burden; secondly the rents are carried
to as great a height as possible, upon the supposition that tenements so circumstanced
will not be rated; the owner, therefore, is pocketing both rate and rent; and
thirdly, the value of his property is increased precisely in the proportion
that his neighbour's is deteriorated, by the weight of rates from which his
own is discharged. Neither is this all; as it is always regarded by the tenant
as a desirable thing to escape the payment of rates, the field for competition
is narrowed, and a very inferior description of house is built for the poor
man. In order to make out a case for the nonpayment of rates, it is necessary
to have inconveniences and defects; and thus it happens that a building speculation,
depending upon freedom from rates for its recommendation, always produces a
description of houses of the worst and most unhealthy kind. Those who would
build for the poor with more liberal views, and greater attention to their health
and their comfort, are discouraged, and a monopoly is given to those whose sole
end is gain by whatever means it may be compassed."

In House Room

I.1.6

In a great number of cases, the labourer, if a parishioner, is not only exempted
from rates, but his rent is paid out of the parish fund. North Wales is a district
of comparatively good administration; but the following extracts from Mr. Walcott's
Report*2
show both the extent of these practices in that country, and some of their effects:—

"The payment of rent out of the rates is nearly universal; in many parishes
it is extended to nearly all the married labourers. In Llanidloes out of 2000l.
spent on the poor, nearly 800l., and in Bodedern out of 360l.
113l. are thus exhausted. In Anglesea and part of Carnarvonshire, overseers
frequently give written guarantees, making the parish responsible for the rent
of cottages let to the Poor. I annex a copy of one from a parish officer, on
behalf of the parish, from himself as overseer, to himself as landlord:—

" 'Copy of Guarantee for Rent of Pauper's Apartment.

" 'WE, the Overseers of the Poor of the parish of Llanfachraeth, will pay the
rent of A. Jones, pauper of our parish, to W. Hughes, of Bodedern, the sum of
1l. 5s. yearly, commencing to-morrow the 13th November, 1827,
for an apartment of a house in Bodedern.

"(Signed) 'WILLIAM HUGHES.'

"I examined William Hughes, who stated that he signed the above on behalf of
the parish, and was the person mentioned in the body of it.

"Paupers have thus become a very desirable class of tenants, much preferable,
as was admitted by several cottage proprietors, to the independent labourers,
whose rent, at the same time, this mode of relief enhances. Of this I received
much testimony; amongst others, an overseer of Dolgelly stated that there were
many apartments and small houses in the town not worth to let 1l. a year,
for which, in consequence of parochial interference with rents, from 1l.
14s. to 2l., was paid: and the clerk to the Directors of Montgomery
House of Industry mentioned an instance of a person in his neighbourhood who
obtained ten cottages from the landowner at a yearly rent of 18l., and
re-let them separately for 50l.; eight of his tenants were parish paupers.

"This species of property being thus a source of profitable investment, speculation,
to a considerable extent, has taken that direction; and it is further encouraged
by exempting pauper cottages from rates, or paying them out of the parochial
funds; a mode of relief as universal as the last.

"In general, all the tenements in a parish are rated, but the rates are very
rarely collected from the smaller class, except in the case of non-parishioners.
One or two instances will suffice to show the extent to which the exemption
is carried.

"The middle division of Welch Pool contains 535 tenements, which are all rated;
but of this number 207 are at a rent not exceeding 6l. a year, from which
no rate is obtained; and the Rev. Mr. Trevor states, as to the town of Carnarvon,
that whole streets have been built on speculation by three or four persons,
the houses in which are let under 4l. a year, and pay no rates. Except
the landlords, few doubted but that the rent in these cases is augmented by
the amount of rate remitted; and there was much complaint that this class of
proprietors not only escaped contributing to the burdens of a parish, but actually
increased them, by creating a cottier pauper population. In and near towns the
proprietors are of all classes, chiefly however builders and tradesmen. The
following is the evidence on these points of the vicar of Bangor in Carnarvonshire:
he states, that the proprietors of cottages are persons who, having saved small
sums, build cottages as a means of procuring the highest interest for their
money; that at least the half of the town of Bangor consists of cottages, many
of which are exempted from rates on account of the poverty of the occupier,
there being no law to compel the owner to pay the rates; that a law to that
effect seems very much wanted, and that the poor tenant is given to understand
by his landlord that his cottage will be free from rates, and thus is induced
to give a higher rent for it.

"The proposition of rating the owner of small tenements is one of great popularity,
and was received with delight by parish officers. I met with only one dissentient,
an assistant overseer, who on further examination proved to be a proprietor
of several exempted cottages. On the other hand, the assistant overseer of the
township of Bangor, in Flintshire, also a proprietor, said that he was so convinced
of the expediency and advantage of rating the landlord, that he would cheerfully
assent to an enactment for the purpose, although
it would lessen the value of his property."

I.1.7

The practice in Suffolk is thus stated by Mr. Stuart:

"The payment of rent is a mode of furnishing relief which few parishes
recognize, yet it is unquestionably a very frequent way of giving relief, not
always to the extent of paying the whole rent, but of giving some assistance
towards it. It is in general difficult to ascertain the length to which this
practice is carried, as in the entry of the charge in the parish books it is
usually described as relief 'in distress,' without specifying the purpose for
which it is granted. It is most prevalent in towns and large villages, in which
tradesmen, who are commonly the owners of cottages, have a greater influence
in the distribution of the poor fund. There is no kind of property which yields
a higher rent, or of which the rent is better paid, than that of houses occupied
by the lower orders. When the landlord once adopts rigorous measures to enforce
his demands, the parish takes good care that the payment shall afterwards be
regularly made, under the plea of avoiding the expense which would be incurred
if a whole family were thrown on it for support, by being deprived of their
goods. An overseer mentioned the following case, for the purpose of convincing
me of the policy and necessity of paying rent:—A baker, with a family
of eight children, had his rent of 13l. a year, paid for him by the parish,
besides an allowance of 2s. 6d. a week for his children. It was
determined to discontinue the payment of rent; his goods were immediately distrained,
he lost his business, and he and his family were obliged to be taken into the
workhouse. It was soon found that it cost the parish about 5s. per head
per week, or about 130l. a year, to maintain them in this way, and it
was judged most prudent to hire a house for him, and buy furniture, for the
purpose of setting him up in his trade again, The parish, after having incurred
all this expense and outlay, have again been obliged to return to the payment
of his rent, which is now 12l. 4s. a year, and to his former out-allowance.
It is evident that when the landlord has such an easy remedy for securing his
claims, he can command any rent he chooses to ask, which the poor man does not
scruple to agree to pay, provided the outward appearance of the house is suitable
to a person in his condition, for the parish is particular in this point."*3

I.1.8

The following is an extract from Mr. Maclean's Report from Surrey and Sussex:—

"The practice of paying rent is, I may say, universal: for although in
but few parishes it is acknowledged, and in many the parish officers seemed
suprised at my questions, and referred to the books, where nothing is entered
as rent, still I found that it is frequently paid indirectly; (i.e.)
though the pauper does not feel that he can ask the vestry or the parish officer
to pay his rent, yet he knows that an application for a pound or two, to enable
him to pay it, or to stay a threatening execution, will not be made in vain.
The other indirect modes in which rent is paid,
are either by an allowance of 1s. a week for the third child, which is
retained by the parish officer for that purpose, by an exemption from the rate,
or by an application to the vestry from time to time, which is so invariably
successful, that those with families do not think it necessary, by foresight
or industry, to lay by any thing to meet the demand. To enumerate all the parishes
in which one or other of these practices exists, would be to name nearly every
parish which I have visited.

"In Pulborough parish 1s. a week is allowed for the third child, but
this is retained by the parish officer to pay rent.

"In the purely agricultural parish of West Grinstead, containing a population
of 1292, the amount of rent entered in the parish books last year amounted to
267l. 11s. 6d.

"In the similar parish of Shipley, with a population of 1180 the amount entered
last year was 254l. 14s. 2d.

"At Horsham the same custom prevailed, and has done so for years. I attended
the select vestry there, and found Mr. Simpson, the clergyman (who always attends),
in the chair. The applications were numerous, and were, with few exceptions,
for the payment of a half or a whole year's rent, and were in every case granted
without apparently any regard to the size of the applicant's family or his earnings;
indeed, relief is given in addition for the third child. No entry is made in
the parish books as 'rent;' but it is charged under the head of 'weekly relief,'
and amounted to upwards of 200l. last year.

"In the parish of Steyning, with a population of 1436, near 120l. was
paid last year for rent. If a man has two children, it has been the custom for
the last twenty years and upwards to pay his rent, to the amount of 1s.
a week; and this is not considered to furnish a sufficient ground upon which
to discontinue his allowance of 1s. 6d. a week for the third child.

"The parish of Epsom pays rent to the amount of 50l. a year, the rule
being to pay none. The chief applicants are those who have large families, or
persons of idle and dissolute character."*4

I.1.9

Mr. Tweedy states, that,

"The practice of giving relief by payment of rent is found to prevail
in a greater or less degree throughout the West Riding, though the opinion is
gaining ground that it is a mode of relief mischievous in its effects, and liable
to great abuse.

"There can be no question that the renting of cottage property by overseers,
and the consequent exemption of it from the poor-rate, has more or less, according
to the circumstances of each case, a tendency to increase the rate at which
other cottage property is let. And when one pauper has been accustomed to receive
it, another thinks himself ill used if it be not allowed to him also. The example
becomes contagious, insomuch that I find in some places, where the greatest
abuse has existed, young people destitute of all means of livelihood have married,
and come immediately to the overseers to demand work, and with
it, what in their slang language is called 'harbour:' that is a house."*5

"In Millbrook, Southampton," says Colonel Hewitt, "it was imagined
that houses letting under 10l. a year are not rateable, which was found
to act as an encouragement to the building of small tenements, and introduced
into the parish a very objectionable description of residents."*6

2. OUT-DOOR RELIEF OF
THE ABLE-BODIED IN MONEY.

I.1.10

THE out-door Relief afforded in money to the Able-bodied on their own account,
or on that of their families, is still more prevalent. This is generally effected
by one of the five following expedients, which may be concisely designated as:—I.
Relief without Labour.—II. The Allowance System.—III. The Roundsmen
System.—IV. Parish Employment.—V. The Labour-Rate System.

I. RELIEF WITHOUT
LABOUR.

I.1.11

BY the Parish giving to those who are or profess to be without employment a
daily or a weekly sum, without requiring from the applicant any labour. Sometimes
relief (to an amount insufficient for a complete subsistence) is afforded, without
imposing any further condition than that the applicant shall shift, as it is
called, for himself, and give the parish no further trouble. In many districts
the plan has become so common as to have acquired the technical name of "Relief
in lieu of Labour."*7

I.1.12

Mr. Villiers, in his Report from the counties of Warwick, Worcester, Gloucester,
and the North part of Devon, states, that,—

"The practice of granting small sums of money to able-bodied men without
requiring labour in return, is adopted in some parishes in each county,—in
the Atherstone and Stratford division in Warwickshire, in the Halfshire hundred
in Worcestershire, and in the Slaughter hundred of Gloucestershire; and is known
to be in use in other parts of these counties. This practice is favoured by
parish officers, from a notion that the parish must gain the difference between
the cost of the pauper's maintenance, or the minimum allowed by the scale, and
what the pauper consents to take; it is also supposed
that it may give the pauper an opportunity to seek work for himself, which he
could not if he was employed by the parish.

"In the Stratford division, the overseer of Alverston stated that there
were young men receiving 2s. 6d. and 3s. a week, and that
though it was barely sufficient for their support, and that they lived in lodgings
at 6d. a week, yet they greatly preferred it to more pay with labour,
as it afforded them time for depredations of various sorts, from which the farmers
each year became great sufferers. At Kidderminster, in Worcestershire, young
able men were observed to receive small sums of money, such as 1s. 6d.
and 2s., and it was said that the convenient form in which relief was
thus afforded them, was their chief inducement in seeking it, and that they
would not accept it in any other shape. At Stow-on-the-Wold, in Gloucestershire,
the overseer and churchwarden stated that this practice had been adopted after
the failure of many others, and with great expectation of its advantage, since
by it relief was granted without the trouble of finding employment for the pauper,
and upon the condition that the application would not be immediately repeated.
They stated, however, that it had completely failed, as the same men soon returned,
and they were again compelled to relieve them. The object in view is to save
trouble and present expense; the result proves a bounty upon idleness and crime,
and is, in the end, not less expensive."*8

I.1.13

But it is more usual to give a rather larger weekly sum, and to force the applicants
to give up a certain portion of their time by confining them in a gravel-pit
or in some other enclosure, or directing them to sit at a certain spot and do
nothing,*9
or obliging them to attend a roll-call several times in the day, or by any contrivance
which shall prevent their leisure from becoming a means either of profit or
of amusement.*10

I.1.14

In a still greater number of instances the relief is given on the plea that
the applicant has not been able to obtain work; that he has lost a day or a
longer period, and is entitled, therefore, to receive from the unlimited resources
of the parish, what he has not been able to obtain from a private employer.

II. ALLOWANCE.

I.1.15

By the parish allowing to labourers, who are employed by individuals, relief
in aid of their wages.

I.1.16

The word allowance is sometimes used as comprehending all parochial
relief afforded to those who are employed by individuals at the average wages
of the district. But sometimes this term is confined to the relief which a person
so employed obtains on account of his children, any relief which he may obtain
on his own account being termed "Payment of Wages out of Rates." In
the following Report we shall use the word "allowance" in its former
or more comprehensive sense.

I.1.17

In some places allowance is given only occasionally, or to meet occasional
wants; to buy, for instance, a coat or a pair of shoes, or to pay the rent of
a cottage or an apartment. In others it is considered that a certain weekly
sum, or more frequently the value of a certain quantity of flour or bread, is
to be received by each member of a family.

I.1.18

The latter practice has sometimes been matured into a system, forming the law
of a whole district, sanctioned and enforced by the magistrates, and promulgated
in the form of local statutes, under the name of Scales.

"The Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor are requested to regulate
the incomes of such persons as may apply to them for relief or employment, according
to the price of bread; namely,

"A single woman, the price of

3 quartern loaves per week.

"A single man

4 . ditto.

"A man and his wife

7 . ditto.

"Ditto. . ditto and one child

8 . ditto.

"Ditto. . ditto and two children

9 . ditto.

"Ditto. . ditto and three ditto

11 . ditto.

"Man, wife, four children and upwards, at the price of two quartern loaves per
head per week.

"It will be necessary to add to the above income in all cases of sickness or
other kind of distress, and particularly of such persons or families who deserve
encouragement by their good behaviour, whom parish officers should mark both
by commendation and reward.

"By order of the Magistrates assembled at the Shire Hall, Cambridge, December
15th, 1821,

"The Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor are requested to regulate the incomes
of such persons as may apply to them for relief or employment, according to
the price of fine bread; namely,

"A single woman, the price of

3½ quartern loaves per week.

"A single man

4½ . ditto.

"A man and his wife

8 . ditto.

"Ditto . ditto, and one child

9½ . ditto.

"Ditto . ditto, and two children

11 . ditto.

"Ditto . ditto, and three ditto

13 . ditto.

"Man, wife, four children and upwards, at the price of 2½ quartern loaves per head per week.

"It will be necessary to add to the above income in all cases of sickness or
other kind of distress; and particularly of such persons or families who deserve
encouragement by their good behaviour, whom parish officers should mark both
by commendation and reward.

"At a special meeting of the magistrates acting in and for the said Division,
held at the Justice Room, in the Shire Hall, on Friday the 15th day of June,
1821.

"It was resolved,

"That the undermentioned scale of relief, for the assistance of the overseers
of the poor within the said division in relieving the necessitous poor, be recommended:
That they do provide each person in every family with the means of procuring
half a peck of bread flour per week, together with 10d. per head for
other necessaries, if the family consist of two only; 8d. per head, if
three; 6d. per head, if four; and 5d. per head, if more than four.

"N. B. The above-mentioned sums are exclusive of fuel.

" By order of the Magistrates,

T. Archer, Clerk,"

Price of Flour per Peck.

NUMBER IN FAMILY.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

s.

d.

s.

d.

s.

d.

s.

d.

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

£

s.

d.

1

6

3

2

4

3

5

0

5

10

7

0

8

2

9

4

10

6

11

8

1

9

3

5

4

7½

5

6

6

5½

7

9

9

0½

10

4

11

7½

12

11

2

0

3

8

5

0

6

0

7

1

8

6

9

11

11

4

12

9

14

2

2

3

3

11

5

4½

6

6

7

8½

9

3

10

9½

12

4

13

10½

15

5

2

6

4

2

5

9

7

0

8

4

10

0

11

8

13

4

15

0

16

8

2

9

4

5

6

1½

7

6

8

11½

10

9

12

6½

14

4

16

1½

17

11

3

0

4

8

6

6

8

0

9

7

11

6

13

5

15

4

17

3

19

2

3

3

4

11

6

10½

8

6

10

2½

12

3

14

3½

16

4

18

4½

1

0

5

3

6

5

2

7

3

9

0

10

10

13

0

15

2

17

4

19

6

1

1

8

3

9

5

5

7

7½

9

6

11

5½

13

9

16

0½

18

4

1

0

7½

1

2

11

4

0

5

8

8

0

10

0

12

1

14

6

16

11

19

4

1

1

9

1

4

2

4

3

5

11

8

4½

10

6

12

8½

15

3

17

9½

1

0

4

1

2

10½

1

5

5

4

6

6

2

8

9

11

0

13

4

16

0

18

8

1

1

4

1

4

0

1

6

8

4

9

6

5

9

1½

11

6

13

11½

16

9

19

6½

1

2

4

1

5

1½

1

7

11

5

0

6

8

9

6

12

0

14

7

17

6

1

0

5

1

3

4

1

6

3

1

9

2

5

3

6

11

9

10½

12

6

15

2½

18

3

1

1

3½

1

4

4

1

7

4½

1

10

5

5

6

7

2

10

3

13

0

15

10

19

0

1

2

2

1

5

4

1

8

6

1

11

8

5

9

7

5

10

7½

13

6

16

5½

19

9

1

3

0½

1

6

4

1

9

7½

1

12

11

6

0

7

8

11

0

14

0

17

1

1

0

6

1

3

11

1

7

4

1

10

9

1

13

4

6

3

7

11

11

4½

14

6

17

8½

1

1

3

1

4

9½

1

8

4

1

11

10½

1

15

5

6

6

8

2

11

9

15

0

18

4

1

2

0

1

5

8

1

9

4

1

13

0

1

16

8

6

9

8

5

12

1½

15

6

18

11½

1

2

9

1

6

6½

1

10

4

1

14

1½

1

17

11

7

0

8

8

12

6

16

0

19

7

1

3

6

1

7

5

1

11

4

1

15

3

1

19

2

I.1.22

HUNDREDS of UTTLESFORD, CLAVERING, and FRESHWELL,
in the County of ESSEX.*14

"Parish officers are desired to regulate allowances according to the price
of the fine bread; viz.

"At a meeting of the inhabitants, held this day, the masters agreed to give
able-bodied men 2s. per day, wet and dry, and an allowance of 1s.
6d., per week for every child (above two) under 14 years of age.

"Lads from 14 to 16, 8d. per day; lads from 16 to 18, 1s. per
day; young men from 18 to 21, 1s. 6d. per day, from this time
to Lady-day.

It was also agreed that from Lady-day to Michaelmas the able-bodied men should
have 14s. per week, wet and dry, with a like allowance of 1s.
6d. per week for every child (above two) under 14 years of age; the boys,
from 14 to 16, 9d. per day; from 16 to 18, 1s. 2d. per
day; and young men from 18 to 21, 1s. 8d. per day.

"Agreed to by the Magistrates assembled at their meeting this day."

I.1.24

In perhaps a majority of the parishes in which the allowance system prevails,
the earnings of the applicant, and, in a few, the earnings of his wife and children,
are ascertained, or at least professed or attempted to be ascertained, and only
the difference between them and the sum allotted to him by the scale is paid
to him by the parish. The following extracts from Mr. Tweedy's Report from Yorkshire,
and Mr. Wilson's from Durham, show the mode in which this branch of the allowance
system is extending itself over the North of England:—

"In Gisburn, the rule and practice of the town is to inquire into the
circumstances of each case, and to make up the wages of a man and his family
to 1s. 6d. per head. This rule is adopted, because it is the rule
by which the magistrates govern themselves on application to them. The course
of the magistrates is to inquire of a weaver (for instance) how many pieces
he can weave per week, and how much he gets for it. A man will say, perhaps,
he can weave three pieces in a week, and would get 1s. 3d. a piece
for weaving them; then if he had a family of a wife and four children, they
would allow him 5s. 3d. a week."—"A man had a
sickly wife, and was allowed 5s. a week for her and for a woman to attend
her. She died, and in about a year he married again; and on the very day of
his marriage, said, 'Now I have married again, I'll work Gisburn another round;'
and he has been as good as his word, having had three children by the second
wife, on account of which he received 2l. 11s. from January to
September in last year.

"At Dent, in the same neighbourhood, 'relief to the able-bodied is afforded
by payments of a weekly or monthly sum in the name of a pension, the amount
of which is regulated according to the number of a man's family, after the rate
of two shillings a head per week: poor people,
especially those who have become pensioners, marry early, more frequently under
twenty years of age than above; they are induced to this, no doubt, from a reliance
upon relief from the poor rate. Instances have been numerous in which this had
been known to be the case, and in a majority of cases relief is applied for
on the birth of the first child: the most profligate and dissolute are
amongst this class, and if they get a little extra pay at any time, they spend
it in drinking, leaving their families to be maintained by the township.'

"At Kettlewell (in Craven) and the neighbourhood, the same system prevails.
'The rule of the magistrates is to allow so much as will yield one shilling
and sixpence a head per week, and the overseers take this rule therefore as
their guide. The overseer has sometimes called upon little farmers for their
rates, and found that they had no provisions or any kind in the house,
nor money to buy any; while on the other hand, he has not unfrequently
been obliged to give relief to men who, there is no doubt, could have procured
work if they had exerted themselves: they speak of it as a matter of right;
and, if what they ask be not granted, they threaten to appeal to the magistrate;
and, as he lives fifteen miles off, the overseers are often induced to
yield to their demands, on account of the expense of meeting the claim
before him.'

"The places above-named are within the jurisdiction of one bench of magistrates.

"At Pateley Bridge many are relieved in degree when the wages they earn are
not sufficient. It is reckoned that 1s. 9d. per head for each
member of the family is necessary, except for infants, and that rule the overseers
act upon. One magistrate, however, allows. 2s. 6d. each for husband
and wife, and 1s. 6d. for each child. Relief is demanded as a
matter of right, and sometimes with insolence. An instance is mentioned as occurring
some years ago, in which a man came and said, 'We have been getting married;
can you find us a house?' and another instance occurred two years ago, in which
a man came out of Craven, and claimed relief a few weeks after marriage, and
was insolent in his demand.

"At Knaresborough the paupers are chiefly weavers of linen and flax dressers;
if they are wholly out of work, the rule is to allow a man and his wife 6s.
a week, and 9d. for each child: a single man 3s. a week. This
rate is allowed, because the magistrates allow it; but in fact, in many cases,
it amounts to more than a man, when trade is flourishing, could earn.
If a man has partial work, they give him 1s. 6d. or 2s.
a week, or as little as they can satisfy him with, knowing that, if he goes
before the magistrate, he will allow him such a sum as, with his earnings, will
make up the rate above mentioned. Immediately that a man is out of work now,
he comes for relief; and, if he be not relieved at once, he goes to a magistrate,
who grants a summons, and makes a memorandum upon it, directing the overseer
to relieve him in the mean time."*17

"In Darlington, in the county of Durham," says Mr. Wilson, "allowances
to able-bodied labourers are graduated according to the numbers
of their families; and whenever the wages of any class of labourers (for example,
of the linen weavers, who have latterly been the most distressed) fall below
the amount appointed by the scale, the difference is made up as a matter of
course by the parish. The scale awards 2s. a head a-week to heads of
families, and 1s. 6d. for each of the children under 12 years
of age. This is the minimum of allowance paid by the parish in all cases. Suppose
a single man to earn 2s. a week, he could put forward no claim to relief.*18
Suppose another, earning the same wages, but possessing besides a wife and six
children, then 2s. a head for himself and his wife, and 1s. 6d.
a head for each of his children, give a total amount of 13s. weekly.
In this second case the family man has a recognized claim on the parish
for an allowance for 11s. weekly, making up his earnings of 2s.
by the above-mentioned graduated scale.

"Some remarkable instances of this occurred on Wednesday, January 9th, at the
meeting of the parish committee. One applicant owned he had earned 21s.
during the last fortnight; but because he had not applied within the last month
to the parish, and his average during that period had not been made up (he had
four children), he now applied to have the deficit made up, which was done accordingly.

"Another man was earning 9s. a week; he had six children; 4s. were handed over the table to him immediately.

"A third had seven children, with himself and his wife, making nine in family.
He stated that his average earnings were 9s. a week. Last week he had
been out of work for a day or two, and consequently had earned only 5s.
The parish had found two days' work for him, which made up his earnings to 7s.;
7s. 6d. additional were handed to him over the table.

"I need not report a dozen similar cases, which were dispatched like the foregoing,
in my presence. Yet do people in this district talk as glibly as any of the
abuses of the Poor Laws in the South."*19

I.1.25

The abuses of the South are, however, still more striking.

"I was able," says Mr. Villiers, "to examine some parishes in
nearly every magisterial division in the county of Warwick, in the three principal
hundreds of the county of Worcester, and in the adjoining parts of Gloucestershire;
and I communicated personally with the overseers and other officers from the
hundreds and principal towns in North Devon.

"In each of these counties the relief is regulated upon the same general principle,
namely, to relieve all claimants according to their alleged actual necessities;
and in each a separate table of relief, varying with the condition of the pauper
and the price of bread, has been drawn up and published by the magistrates for
the guidance of overseers.

"Allowance of money to men, regulated by the number of their families,
was seldom, if ever, denied. The exceptions are in some few parishes, where,
by a better system of management, the labourers have been encouraged to maintain
their own children. The system is defended by some persons, and by others it
is not considered as a mode of supplying the deficiency in wages from the rates.
A magistrate lamented to me that a practice of paying the wages out of the rates
did exist in the southern and eastern counties, and was happy to think that
it had never been adopted in his division; but he admitted and defended the
custom of allowing a sum for the third or fourth child of every labourer. In
one parish I asked the overseer if it would be possible for a man and his family
to be earning a guinea a week, and receiving allowance for his children; he
said, 'Certainly, as we never suppose that a man earns more than the farmers
usually give.' Upon asking several other overseers why such inquiry was not
made, the reply generally was, that they either had not time, or that it was
not usual, and that, should they refuse the allowance applied for, they would
be summoned before a magistrate, who would order it."*20

"The statement of the vestry clerk of Old Swinford was, that men with
families were in the habit of being relieved who were known to earn 16s.
or 18s. a week, and that unless it were shown that the earnings of the
family amounted to 25s. a week, allowance was not refused. This I was
hardly able to credit at first, but he stated that, when the trade was good,
people were able to earn these wages, and that it had been considered since
that time as a standard for allowance. The character of a large portion of these
people was described as being reckless and dissolute beyond any others. They
were said to be living almost promiscuously, and that large families, legitimate
or not, were considered by them as an advantage. Nails are manufactured in their
houses, and children, who can be employed early in this trade, become a source
of profit to the parents, if the trade is good, and, if it should fail, they
are maintained by the parish.

"In these districts the truck system has been practised, and doubtless continues
to be so; and consequently the owners of the tommy shops, being the manufacturers,
are frequently the persons who are expected to regulate the distribution of
relief to their own men."*21

I.1.26

The following are extracts from the valuable Answers of Mr. Russell, a magistrate
residing in Swallowfield, in the counties of Berks and Wilts, to our printed
Queries:—

"The parish gives the labourers, out of the poor-rates, what they call
sometimes their 'make up,' and sometimes their 'bread money.'
The bread money is calculated weekly, at the price of two gallon loaves
for the husband, one for the wife, and one for each of the children, be the
number what it may; and to whatever extent the earnings of the family may fall
short of that sum, the difference is made up in money. This allowance
is given in compliance with an order made many years ago by the magistrates
of this county (Berks), and, practically, is in all
cases enforced by them. I have known a magistrate on an application made by
a pauper for his bread money exclaim that no such thing as bread money
was recognized by the bench, and then make an order, with the mere omission
of the term, for the precise amount demanded.

"No attention is paid to either the character of the applicant or the causes
of his distress. In fact, he is considered entitled to it without pleading any
distress.

"The bread money is hardly looked upon by the labourers in the light
of parish relief. They consider it as much their right as the wages they receive
from their employers, and in their own minds, make a wide distinction between
'taking their bread money' and 'going on the parish.' "*22

I.1.27

In other parishes the labourer is not supposed to earn more than a given sum. If that sum be less than the sum to which the size of his family entitles him, he receives the difference from the parish.

I.1.28

At Thaxted, Essex, the overseer states:—

"That allowance is regulated by the price of flour: that the magistrates
direct half a peck of flour for each individual of the family, besides 6d.
each for the father and mother, and 4d. for each child. If wages do not
amount to this, they are to be made up out of the poor-rate. A man's weekly
earnings are reckoned at 8s. If he makes more, still he receives his
allowance, in order that industry may not be discouraged."*23

I.1.29

In the Answers to which we have referred, Mr. Russell states that,

"In the Berks portion of Swallowfield, the invariable usage, both in winter
and in summer, was to make up the bread money from the actual earnings of the
whole family. In the Wiltshire portion they take the man's earnings, let them
have been as high as they may, at the fixed rate of day work only, allowing
him the benefit of the difference; and under the influence of the panic struck
by the fires, our portion has so far yielded to the importunity of the farmers
as to adopt this practice during the winter months. For instance, if a family
consist of a man, his wife and six children, their bread money for nine loaves
at 1s. 6d. a loaf is 13s. 6d. a week. Suppose, as
often happens in the winter, that the man has earned 12s. in the week,
and the wife and children nothing, then, according to the rate which used to
prevail with us all the year round, and which still prevails in summer, the
family will receive a make up of 1s. 6d.; but according
to the practice which we now follow in the winter, the man's earnings, though
really 12s., will be taken at the ordinary rate of only 9s., and
he will receive 4s. 6d. in money. Whatever the wife and any of
the children may earn, whether in summer or in winter, their real earnings are
taken as a set-off against their loaf."*24

I.1.30

It is to be observed that even in those parishes in which the amount of allowance
is supposed to depend on that of the applicant's earnings, the inquiry as to
the amount of those earnings is never carried back further than the current
or the previous week or fortnight. The consequence is, that many of those who
at particular periods of the year receive wages far exceeding the average amount
of the earnings of the most industrious labourer, receive also large allowances
from the parish. Mr. Cowell and Mr. Bishop found a parish in the Bedford Level,
in which a recently drained tract of fertile land requires more labour than
the settled inhabitants can provide; and the average yearly earnings of a labourer's
family are from 60l. to 70l.; but during a frost, and generally
from November to March, almost every labourer comes on the parish. When they
commented on these facts in their conversation with a resident magistrate, his
answer was, "Why, what are we to do? They spend it all, and then come and
say they are starving; and you must relieve them."*25
"In our vestry," says Mr. Russell, "which meets every Monday,
the calculation is confined to the earnings of the past fortnight. No further
retrospect is ever taken either for or against the claimant. In some parishes
I believe the account is settled once a week instead of once a fortnight."

I.1.31

Sometimes the inquiry does not go back even to the beginning of the week at
the end of which the claim is made.

"A case was mentioned to me," says Mr. Stuart, "of nine men
who had been able to earn 15s. each by task work, in three days, and
who came to the parish for the other three days of the week, during which they
had no employment. The overseer, aware of the profitable work in which they
had been engaged, offered 1s. a day for the lost days instead of 1s.
6d. a day, which would have been their allowance according to the scale.
This the men rejected; left the work which they then had, and went to a magistrate
to complain. The magistrate sent an open note by the complainants, appealing
to the humanity of the overseer. The men, aware of the contents of the note,
backed the recommendation of the magistrate by threats, which induced the overseer
to comply."*26

I.1.32

Again, there are other parishes in which no inquiry whatever is made respecting
earnings, but the birth of a child endows the parent with an allowance, whatever
be his income.

I.1.33

At Laughton, Sussex, says Mr. Majendie,—

"I attended the vestry with one of the principal farmers. One of his labourers,
who was in constant employ at 17s. per week, came for his 'pay,' for
a third child just born, at 1s. a week for six months; it will then be
raised to 1s. 6d. a week. The plan of allowance, without inquiry
into earnings, is justified on the ground that if the same allowance were not
made to all, it would cramp industry."*27

I.1.34

In Westoning, Bedfordshire,—

"There is scarcely one able-bodied labourer in the employment of individuals
but what receives regular relief on account of his family. A married man and
his wife, without any child, receive 5s. per week if he be out of employment;
for one child, he is allowed 1s. whether in or out of employment; for
two children, 2s. and so on in proportion to the number of children under
10 years; above 10 years, each boy out of employment is allowed from 1s.
6d. to 3s. 6d."*28

I.1.35

Mr. Walcott states, that in North Wales,—

"No single able-bodied man in the employment of individuals ever obtains
parochial relief.

"Married agricultural labourers in work, and with only three children, although
in many cases their rents are paid, and the rates remitted, yet are very rarely
considered entitled to regular weekly relief; but if out of work, or with more
than three children, in nearly every parish they obtain it on those grounds.

"The allowance is usually 1s. a week for each child above the third.
Overton is the only parish I heard of entirely free from the abuse of relieving
the able-bodied in the employ of individuals. It is there considered, he states,
contrary to law, justice, and humanity.

"The rule of commencing relief with the fourth child, is, however, by no means
inflexible; for example, in Kerry, a very well-managed parish, a great portion
of the labourers support four, five, and six children, without any parochial
assistance, and wages are not higher there than in many other places where it
is given.

"The effect of thus placing the married and unmarried man on a different footing
as to relief, is clearly to encourage early and improvident marriages, with
their consequent evils. Of this there was no lack of evidence; the answers to
inquiries on this subject being, that such marriages are now much more common
amongst the labouring and lower classes than formerly; that the great majority
of young men marry under twenty-four years of age, and frequently under twenty-one.
That such is one of the effects of the practice, is evident from the circumstance,
that in the parish of Kerry, where a married man is not certain of obtaining
relief, even with five or six children, the labourers (according to the testimony
of a very intelligent and long-resident magistrate, Mr. Pugh) do not marry earlier
than they did twenty or twenty-five years ago."*29

I.1.36

In the Northern Division of Devonshire, says Mr. Villiers,—

"The practice of granting allowance for children is so general and confirmed,
that the pauper is in the habit of giving formal notice to the overseer of the
pregnancy of his wife. Should the overseer refuse the application for the fixed
sum allowed for the second, third, or fourth child, the magistrates' single
inquiry, on his appearance before them under a
summons, would be as to the custom of the parish or the hundred: 'At what number
does allowance begin with you?' is the common mode of putting the question,
as I was repeatedly assured by overseers. The previous or present earnings of
the pauper, or of any of his family, are never mentioned."*30

I.1.37

It is to be observed, also, that under the scale system a child is very soon
considered as an independent claimant for relief, and entitled to it, though
residing with his parents, and though they may be in full work and high wages.
At Friston, Suffolk, Mr. Stuart states, that "a child is entitled to relief,
at the rate of 3s. a week, on his own account, from the age of 14."*31

I.1.38

At Bottisham, Cambridge, says Mr. Power,—

"A boy of sixteen receives 2s. 6d. for the week; lives at
home with his father; the family consists of his father, mother, brother, and
himself. His father and brother are both now doing work at full wages, for Mr.
Jenyns the magistrate.—(From the overseer;) Seventeen is the age at which
we consider a young man entitled to separate relief, as an unemployed labourer;
his pay then is 3s. 6d.; this boy is relieved, not as a labourer
out of employ, but at the instance of Mr. Jenyns, who has been for some time
past endeavouring to obtain him a service.—(From Mr. King afterwards:)
The allowance to our young single men out of employment used to be 2s.
10d., according to scale, four quartern loaves, present price 8 1/2;d.
Last November they came to the sessions in a body to complain of the insufficiency,
and it was then rased to 3s. 6d. This sum they receive when above
a certain age, although residing with their families. One family consisting
of man, wife, and seven children, are entitled to, and at this time receiving
19s. 6d. from the parish several of the sons being grown up. At
Little Shelford a worse case than this was given me by the acting overseer,
of one family, a man, wife, and four sons, living together, receiving 24s.
weekly from the parish. The woman was receiving 3s. a week at that time
in the family of Mr. Finch, the clergyman, as Mrs. Finch informed me."*32

III. THE ROUNDSMAN SYSTEM.

I.1.39

BY the parish paying the occupiers of property to employ the applicants for
relief at a rate of wages fixed by the parish, and depending not on the services,
but on the wants of the applicants, the employer being repaid out of the poor-rate
all that he advances in wages beyond a certain sum. This is the house row, or
roundsmen, or billet, or ticket, or stem, system.

According to this plan, the parish in general makes some agreement
with a farmer to sell to him the labour of one or more paupers at a certain
price, and pays to the pauper, out of the parish funds, the difference between
that price and the allowance which the scale, according to the price of bread
and the number of his family, awards to him. It has received the name of the
billet or ticket system, from the ticket signed by the overseer, which the pauper,
in general, carries to the farmer as a warrant for his being employed, and takes
back to the overseer, signed by the farmer, as a proof that he has fulfilled
the conditions of relief. In other cases the parish contracts with some individual
to have some work performed for him by the paupers at a given price, the parish
paying the paupers. In many places the roundsman system is effected by means
of an auction. Mr. Richardson states that, in Sulgrave, Northamptonshire, the
old and infirm are sold at the monthly meeting to the best bidder, at prices
varying, according to the time of the year from 1s. 6d. a week
to 3s.; that at Yardley, Hastings, all the unemployed men are put up
to sale weekly, and that the clergyman of the parish told him that he had seen
ten men the last week knocked down to one of the farmers for 5s. and
that there were at that time about 70 men let out in this manner out of a body
of 170.*33

I.1.40

The following extracts, from the Answers to our printed Queries for the rural
districts, are further examples of all these forms of relief:—

"Having so many labouring men, the income from the land will not allow
us to give more than a sufficient for the best characters to subsist upon, and
we are obliged to give the same to the worst. A man of bad character, on account
of which he is not employed, having two children or more, applies to the parish
at the end of the week for relief, through loss of time, and has the same money
given him as the honest labourer receives of his master for his labour for the
same week."*34

"Rent was, at one period, paid by the parish, by which an artificial price
was kept up; since the practice has been discontinued, the rent of cottages
has fallen."*36

I.1.43

"GOUDHURST, KENT.—Giles Miller.

"Every man having more than three children upon his hands, comes to the
parish for support for all above the third: it is granted as a matter of course."*37

"The word 'scale' is unknown, but the thing exists as effectually as if
it were published by authority at every petty sessions. Every parish officer
and pauper knows that a man with his wife and three children is entitled to
have his wages 'made up' (such is the phrase) to 12s. a week;
and is entitled to 1s. 6d. per week for every child beyond three;
and without entering into any very rigid account as to the average of his earnings.
Extra receipts are supposed to go for clothes and extra payments: in reality,
they too often go to the beer shop."*38

I.1.44

"NONINGTON, KENT.—W. O. Hammond, J.P.

"There are at this time (May) 12 or 15 able men disengaged in this parish. The
thrashing is over sooner than usual, owing to a deficient crop. The woods are
cleared, and pea-hoeing is also finished. The men out of work are allowed at
the rate of 6s. for man and wife, with 1s. a head for children.
Under the circumstances, the following plan has been adopted:—A married
man, having two children, receives 8s. from the poor-rate. He takes at
the vestry a ticket inscribed with the name of an occupier in the parish. For
this person he is required to work four days, and the employer is pledged
to set him at no necessary or essential occupation. This reservation must
be obviously ineffectual. The remaining two days the man is at liberty to earn
anything elsewhere if he can. The tickets are allotted by rotation. The system
cannot be justified on principle or practice. So long as it lasts, necessary
work will wait for the turn of a ticket man. The land will become foul, the
labourer half employed and half paid, and the parish imposed upon."*39

I.1.45

"PRESTON, near FAVERSHAM, KENT.—Giles Hilton, Preston House.

"No regular system for the attached; when unattached, a man, wife and four children,
usually obtain the full weekly wages of the attached; with six children, I have
known most undeserving parents get 18s. a week all the winter, and the
greater part of the summer. The practice of partly paying for work done for
individuals did prevail, but the pauper, learning the practice, could seldom
be made to do a fair day's work."*40

I.1.46

"STOGUMBER, SOMERSET.—Charles Rowcliffe.

"An allowance is made, unhappily; beginning at three children. I consider
that nearly all the work is partly paid for by the parish, and that this fact
is a crying evil, working great mischief, and distress, and carelessness, and
indifference about his family, in the mind of the labourer."*41

"The practice of work being done for individuals and partly paid for by
the parish has proved more injurious than any measure ever adopted, having brought
numbers of the most hale labourers on the list of paupers, who previous to that
would have shuddered at the thought of coming to a parish, but are now as contented
to receive relief as they were before in a state of labouring independence;
the most wages the best labourers could then obtain were no more than from 3s.
to 4s per week, the remainder was made up out of the rates, according
to their families. This system is now abolished, and the labourer gets fair
wages."*42

I.1.48

"BYFIELD, NORTHAMPTON.—Charles Wetherell, Rector; T. Carter,
J. P.

" 'Head money' is given indiscriminately to all families of labouring men with
more than two children under 10 years of age, without inquiring into their earnings,
at the rate of 1s. each for those exceeding two; latterly many petty
tradesmen have laid claim to it, and their claims have, in too many instances,
been acceded to. T. C."

"Relief is given generally, according to a scale which the deputy overseer
obtains at the magistrates' pettysessions.*43C.W."

I.1.49

"ENSTONE, OXFORD.—William Gardener, F. Elton.

"All that apply to the vestry for employment have half their money, or more,
out of the poor-rates. They allow, with all the earnings, 5s. per week
to the man and his wife, and 1s. 6d. per head for the children,
many or few; half from the master and the rest from the rates.

"A married man and his wife, with no child, will receive 5s. per week;
a single man, perhaps 3s. 6d. and 4s.; half from the master
and the rest from the poor's-rates."*44

"I am sorry to say that all our able-bodied labourers who have more than two
children receive regular allowance from the parish, and this is the case generally
in the neighbourhood. In some of the adjoining parishes it is carried to such
a length that I have known a labourer receive 2d. per diem where he worked,
and the rest of his wages made up from the poor's book. The children are usually
sent round, and paid wholly by the overseer."*45

"All farm labourers, during the whole or a part of the year, receive a portion
of their wages out of the poor's-rates."*46

I.1.52

"HASILBURY BRYAN, DORSET.—Henry Walter, Rector.

"In 1821-22 the overseers had been in the habit of sharing out the pauper
labourers amongst the farmers, (including themselves,) and of paying for the
work done by them wholly out of the poor's-rates; and as certain magistrates
in the Blandford division (to which this parish then belonged) declined interfering
to check this abuse, the answerer felt it his duty to appeal to the two sessions
in 1823, and at the July sessions at Shaftesbury he obtained a verdict, which
put an end to the practice. The custom, however, of 'making up the pay' of able-bodied
labourers from the poor-rates still continues. So lately as the 25th July last,
the answerer being told by the overseers that a complaint was lodged against
the parish for not affording relief to an able-bodied labourer in addition to
his wages, whose family consisted of a wife and four little children, but who
paid nothing for living in a house belonging to the parish; he accompanied them
to the petty sessions, and respectfully informed the magistrates that he should
feel it his duty to advise his neighbours to resist any order requiring the
parish to pay such allowance; to which it was replied, that they felt it was
theirduty, and should sign the order. Eventually, however, they did not
sign it, but their signature was withheld on grounds unconnected with the principle
opposed, and that principle was still avowed and maintained."*47

I.1.53

"WELFORD, GLOUCESTER.—William Welch, Assistant Overseer.

"The labourers changed their service much more frequently when they were paid
a part of their money by the overseers (called headmoney), which was an order
from the magistrates, and persisted in by them till we established a poorhouse,
which has nearly done it away, and the labourers are become more respectable.

"Magistrates, when applied to, always make their orders according to the head-money
system, taking the labourer's earnings at the usual day-work price, without
regard to the conduct or ability of the labourer."*48

IV. PARISH EMPLOYMENT.

I.1.54

BY the parish employing and paying the applicants for relief.

I.1.55

The 43rd of Elizabeth does not authorize relief to be afforded to any but the
impotent, except in return for work. And much as this part of the statute has
been neglected, its validity is recognized by the Judges. In the King v.
Collett; 2 Barnewell and Cresswell, 324, Lord Tenterden decided it to be the
duty of overseers to provide work, if possible, before they afforded relief.
And whatever may be the difficulty of finding
profitable work, it is difficult to suppose the existence of a parish
in which it would not be possible to provide some work, were it merely
to dig holes and fill them again. But though such is the law, it appears, from
the Parliamentary Returns, that payment for work is the most unusual form in
which relief is administered. The Poor Rate Returns for the year ending the
25th March, 1832, state, that out of 7,036,968l, expended in that year
for the relief of the poor, less than 354,000l., or scarcely more than
one-twentieth part, was paid for work, including work on the roads and in the
workhouses. This may easily be accounted for.

I.1.56

In the first place, to afford relief gratuitously is less troublesome to the
parochial authorities than to require work in return for it. Wherever work is
to be paid for, there must be superintendence; but where paupers are the work-people,
much more than the average degree of superintendence is necessary. In ordinary
cases, all that the superintendent inquires is, whether the workmen has performed
an average day's work; and where the work is piece-work, he need not make even
that inquiry. The practice of his trade fixes the market price of the work,
and he pays it without asking whether the workman has been one hour or one day
in performing it, or whether it exceeds or falls below his wants. But the superintendent
of pauper labourers has to ascertain, not what is an average day's work, or
what is the market price of a given service, but what is a fair day's work for
a given individual, his strength and habits considered; at what rate of pay
for that work, the number of his family considered, he would be able to earn
the sum necessary for his and their subsistence; and lastly, whether he has
in fact performed the amount which, after taking all these elements into calculation,
it appears that he ought to have performed. It will easily be anticipated that
this superintendence is very rarely given; and that in far the greater number
of the cases in which work is professedly required from paupers, in fact no
work is done. In the second place, collecting the paupers in gangs for the performance
of parish work is found to be more immediately injurious to their conduct than
even allowance or relief without requiring work. Whatever be the general character
of the parish labourers, all the worst of the inhabitants are sure to be among
the number; and it is well known that the effect of such an association is always
to degrade the good, not to elevate the bad. It was among these gangs, who had
scarcely any other employment or amusement than to collect in groups, and talk
over their grievances, that the riots of 1830 appear to have originated. And,
thirdly, parish employment does not afford direct profit to any individual.
Under most of the other systems of relief, the
immediate employers of labour can throw on the parish a part of the wages of
their labourers. They prefer, therefore, those modes of relief which they can
turn to their own account, out of which they can extract profit under the mask
of charity.

I.1.57

In those parishes in which labour is the condition on which relief is granted,
we have found great differences with respect to the kind and the duration of
the labour required, and the amount of its remuneration. In Cookham,*49
in Putney,*50
and in many of the metropolitan parishes,*51
the work is irksome, the hours of labour are equal to those which a private
employer would exact, and the pay less than he would give. In others the amount
of labour required is far less than that which an independent labourer must
afford; but the pay is dimished so far as is consistent with the supposed wants
of the applicant. Thus, at Kimpton, Hants,*52
"the single young men are employed by piecework, but are restricted to
earn only 2s. 6d. a week, and are then at liberty to go where
they like. In the same place children are employed in picking stones by task,
and are allowed to earn the price of a gallon of bread, and 6d. over,
per week, which they can do in about four days." At Gamlingay, Cambridge,
"the paupers are employed in collecting stones, at the price of 2d.
a bushel, until they have earned the sum allotted to them by the bread scale;
they then do as they please for that week."*53
At Uckfield, Sussex, instead of a part of each week, "they are required
to work a part of each day, so as to earn the sum which is considered necessary
for their subsistence;"*54
a sum which, according to the magisterial scale of the Uckfield bench, appears
to be, for a single man, 4s.; man and wife, 7s.; man, wife, and
one child, 8s. 6d.; with two children, 10s.; and for each
child above two, the value of a gallon of flour.*55
In a parish in Suffolk, "twenty acres were hired by the parish and dug
by the paupers at piece-work, the price being proportioned to their families.
Either the work was completed by two or three o'clock, and the rest of the day
spent in idleness,or the men consumed the whole day in the lazy performance
of the work of a portion of the day."*56
In Pollington, Yorkshire, they send many of them upon the highways, but they
only work four hours per day: this is because there is not employment
sufficient in that way; they sleep more than they work, and if any but the surveyor
found them sleeping, they would laugh at them.
In Rancliffe they employed a man in the winter of 1830-1831 to look over
them; but they threatened to drownhim, and he was obliged to withdraw.
If a man did not like his work, he would say, 'I can have 12s. a week
by going on the roads, and doing as little as I like.' In Carlton, from 30l.
to 40l. was paid to men last year (1831) for doing nothing."*57
"In the parish of Mancetter, in the county of Warwick, the overseer stated
that young able men received 2s. 6d. a week, and the magistrates
would not allow the parish to employ them more than three days in the week,
in order that they might get work for themselves. Upon inquiry, it appeared
that their characters soon became so infamous, that no person would employ them,
having devoted their spare time to thieving and poaching. In the township of
Atherstone, Mr. Wellday, a manufacturer, impatient of contributing his property
to the encouragement of vice and idleness by paying men without exacting labour,
purchased some water-carts himself, for the purpose of giving employment to
paupers. The magistrates refused to allow them to be used after twelve o'clock
in the day, in order that these men might procure work for themselves: they
were also described as becoming the most worthless characters in the town."*58

I.1.58

In some of the agricultural district, the prevalent mismanagement in this respect
has created in the minds of the paupers a notion that it is their right to be
exempted from the same degree of labour as independent labourers. In the parish
of Swallowfield (Berks), the paupers summoned the overseers before the magistrates.
They had been—

"Offered task-work at the gravel-pit at 8d. a yard, or 1s.
a load for digging and sifting without loading. This had been considered a fair
price with loading. The complainants contended before the magistrates, that
by what they considered 'a right,' they ought not to be employed on the part
of the parish more than from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon,
although when working for farmers they were usually kept at work from six in
the morning until six at night in summer, or from daylight until dark in the
winter. This, which they claimed as 'their right,' had, in fact, been the previous
practice in the parish, and was and is in a greater or less degree the existing
practice in adjacent parishes."*59

I.1.59

In the course of the examination of Mr. Price from Great Farringdon (Berks),
he was asked—

"How did you enforce work on the in-door paupers?—Chiefly by admonition.
Their labour was, as might be expected, very slack comparatively. I, however,
insisted that they should work during the same
time as the independent labourers. This they resisted, and appealed to the magistrates
against this usage. The ground of their appeal was, that it was a thing unknown
before in this parish, or any other, that parish labourers should work as long
or as hard as the other classes of labourers."*60

I.1.60

But in many places, while the labour required by the parish is trifling, the
pay equals or exceeds that of the independent labourer. Eastbourne, in Sussex,
is a striking example. In this place, in which the average wages earned from
individuals by hard work are 12s. a week, the parish pays for nominal
labour as much as 16s. a week. Two families alone received from it, in
the year ending Lady-day, 1832, 92l. 4s.; and the wives of the
few independent labourers regret that their husbands are not paupers.*61
At the parish farm; occupied by the incorporated parishes of the Isle of Wight,
240 men were employed at one time in the year 1830, at the same wages as those
usually given by the farmers; they scarcely did any work, and twice left the
farm in a body to threaten the directors. Their wages were consequently raised.*62

I.1.61

In the parish of Hartland, says Mr. Villiers—

"Mr.——,———, who had occupied land there
for seventeen years, informed me that the magistrates were in the habit of ordering
the same wages for the men working on the roads not superintended. as were paid
to the labourers in the employ of the farmers; and that on this account, as
well as that the poor liked to watch for the wrecks in the winter, they did
not seek for work out of the parish."*63

I.1.62

Mr. Richardson states, that, in Northamptonshire,

"The plan generally in use in the agricultural villages is, upon the man's
applying to the overseer for work, to send him upon some part of the parish
roads, where he is expected to work—not the farmer's hours, or anything
like them, but to begin at eight, to leave at twelve for dinner, an hour, and
to leave the roads finally at four. It is the business of the overseer or the
surveyor of the roads, a farmer or a tradesmen, who, paid or not, has his own
business to attend to, to see that the men are actually working. While he is
present, and the farmers take credit to themselves for riding up once or twice
a day to the roads, the men bestir themselves a little; but the moment his back
is turned, a man who gives himself any trouble is laughed at by his companions.
As the overseer at Kettering told me, their remark is,—'You must have
your 12s. a week, or your 10s. a week, whether you work or not;
I would not be such a fool as to work—blast work—damn me if I work,'
&c.; and, of course, under these circumstances, they do anything but work;
if there is a wood near, as at Glapthorne and some other places round Oundle,
they run into the wood to steal firing, which
they hide and carry off at a convenient time; and universally they are in the
habit of stealing turnips, or posts, or any little thing of that sort that comes
to hand.

"In short, where there were many able-bodied men employed on the roads, there
everybody complained of petty thefts, pilfering, poaching, &c., as the natural
consequences.

"Whatever the previous character of a man may have been, he is seldom able to
withstand the corruption of the roads: two years occasional employment there
ruins the best labourer. Moreover, in very many instances, the difference between
parish pay for pretending to break stones on the road, and the real wages given
by the farmer, does not amount to more than 1s. a week; and, if the man
has a family entitling him to receive a given sum by the scale as head-money,
he receives as much from the parish as he would from any other employer. Accordingly,
the labourers who are only occasionally employed are nearly indifferent to pleasing
or displeasing their employer; they quit with the remark which I heard at least
a dozen times from different overseers,—'I can get as much on the roads
as if I worked for you.'"*64

I.1.63

The following extracts from Mr. Okeden's and Mr. Majendie's Reports afford
examples of all these systems, sometimes separate and sometimes in combination.

"At Urchfont, a parish in the district of Devizes, the population of which
is 1,340, and the annual poor-rates about 1,450l., there are above 50
men out of employ for 45 weeks every year. To these the parish pays 3s.
a week each during that time, and inquires no further about their time or labour;
thus creating an annual item of expense of nearly 400l."*65

"At the parish of Bodicott, in the district of Bloxham, a printed form
is delivered to those who apply for work. The labourer takes this to the farmers
in succession, who, if they do not want his labour, sign their names. The man,
on his return, receives from the overseer the day's pay of an industrious labourer,
with the deduction of 2d. The same system takes place in other parishes.

"In the parish of Sidford Gore, in the same district, where the poor-rates are
under 650l. per annum, 114l. was paid last year in six months,
to men who did not strike one stroke of work for it.

"At Deddington, during the severe winter months, about 60 men apply every morning
to the overseer for work or pay. He ranges them under a shed in a yard. If a
farmer or any one else wants a man, he sends to the yard for one, and pays half
the day's wages; the rest is paid by the parish. At the close of the day the
unemployed are paid the wages of a day, minus 2d. I could multiply instances
of this application of the scale to the superfluous
labourers; but to do so would only waste your time."*66

"At Rotherfield, in East Sussex, 120 men were out of employ in the winter
1831-32, and various modes were attempted to dispose of them. First they
were set to work on the parish account; single men at 5s.; men with families
at 10s. per week; the pay being the same as farmers' pay, the men left
the farmers in order to get the same pay with less work. Then they were billeted
among the farmers at 1s. per day from the farmers, and 8d. from
the parish. This was changed to 1s. from the parish, and 8d. from
the farmer. The men so billeted did not keep the proper hours of work; then
the farmers' men, finding that they who worked the regular hours were paid no
more than those who were irregular, gave up their employment to become billeted
men, and the farmers were induced to throw their men out of employ to get their
labour done by the parish purse. The billeting system having failed, a 6d.
labour-rate was made: it soon failed. Magistrates now recommend 6d. in
the pound to be deducted from the full rate, and that the occupier should be
allowed to pay that proportion of his rate by employment of the surplus hands.

"The labourers are much deteriorated. They do not care whether they have regular
work or not; they prefer idle work on the roads. The magistrates at the Uckfield
bench told the overseer, the year before last, that if the men made complaint
they should be allowed at the rate of 2s. 4d. per head for each
member of the family."*67

"At Burnash, in East Sussex, in the year 1822, the surplus labourers were
put up to auction, and hired as low as 2d. and 3d. per day; the
rest of their maintenance being made up by the parish. The consequence was,
that the farmers turned off their regular hands, in order to hire them by auction
when they wanted them. The evil of this system was so apparent, that some occupiers
applied to the magistrates, who recommended it should be given up. During the
last year, the following plan has been adopted:—The names of the occupiers
are written on pieces of paper, which are put into a bag; the labourer draws
out a ticket, which represents 10s. worth of labour, at fair wages; next
week the labourer draws another master, and this is repeated till the occupier
has exhausted the shilling rate. This has continued two winters; much fraud
is mixed up with the practice. Some farmers turn off their labourers in order
to have ticketed men; other occupiers refuse to pay the rate, and against them
it is not enforced."*68

V. THE LABOUR-RATE
SYSTEM.

I.1.64

BY an agreement among the rate-payers, that each of them shall employ and pay
out of his own money a certain number of the labourers who have settlements
in the parish, in proportion, not to his real demand for labour, but according
to his rental or to his contribution to the rates, or to the number of horses
that he keeps for tillage, or to the number of acres that he occupies, or according
to some other scale. Where such an agreement exists, it is generally enforced
by an additional rate, imposed either under the authority of the 2d.
& 3d. Wm. IV. c. 96, or by general consent on those who do not employ
their full proportion. This may be called the Labour-rate System. We shall consider
it more at length in a subsequent portion of this Report.

WIDOWS.

I.1.65

In all the cases which have been mentioned, relief is professed to be afforded
on the ground of want of employment, or of insufficient wages; but a class of
persons have, in many places, established a right to public support, independently
of either of these claims. These are Widows, who, in many places, receive what
are called pensions, of from 1s. to 3s. a week on their own account,
without any reference to their age or strength, or powers of obtaining an independent
subsistence, but simply as widows. In such places, they receive an additional
allowance if they have children. The allowance for each child is generally about
1s. 6d. a week in rural districts, unless the child be illegitimate,
in which case it is more frequently 2s. or more.

II. OUT-DOOR RELIEF OF THE IMPOTENT.

I.1.66

THE Out-door relief to the impotent (using that word as comprehending all except
the able-bodied and their families) is subject to less abuse. The great source
of Poor-Law mal-administration is, the desire of many of those who regulate
the distribution of the parochial fund, to extract from it a profit to themselves.
The out-door relief to the able-bodied, and all relief that is administered
in the workhouse, afford ample opportunities for effecting this purpose; but
no use can be made of the labour of the aged and sick, and there is little room
for jobbing if their pensions are paid in money. Accordingly, we find, that
even in places distinguished in general by the
most wanton parochial profusion, the allowances to the aged and infirm are moderate.*69

I.1.67

The out-door relief of the sick is usually effected by a contract with a surgeon,
which, however, in general, includes only those who are parishioners. When non-parishioners
become chargeable from illness, an order for their removal is obtained, which
is suspended until they can perform the journey; in the mean time they are attended
by the local surgeon, but at the expense of the parish to which they belong.
This has been complained of as a source of great peculation; the surgeon charging
a far larger sum than be would have received for attending an independent labourer
or a pauper, in the place of his settlement. On the whole, however, medical
attendance seems, in general, to be adequately supplied, and economically, if
we consider only the price and the amount of attendance.

I.1.68

The country is much indebted to Mr. Smith, of Southam, for his exertions to
promote the establishment of dispensaries, for the purpose of enabling the labouring
classes to defray, from their own resources, the expense of medical treatment.
Some valuable remarks on this subject, by the Rev. P. Blakiston and Dr. Calvert,
will be found in Appendix (C). It appears to us, that great good has already
been effected by these dispensaries, and that much more may be effected by them;
but we are not prepared to suggest any legislative measures for their encouragement.

I.1.69

It appears from the whole Evidence, that the clause of the 43d Elizabeth, which
directs the parents and children of the impotent to be assessed for their support,
is very seldom enforced. In any ordinary state of society, we much doubt the
wisdom of such an enactment. The duty of supporting parents and children, in
old age or infirmity, is so strongly enforced by our natural feelings, that
it is often well performed, even among savages, and almost always so in a nation
deserving the name of civilized. We believe that England is the only European
country in which it is neglected. To add the sanction of the law in countries
where that of nature is found sufficient, to make that compulsory which would
otherwise be voluntary, cannot be necessary; and if unnecessary, must be mischievous.
But if the deficiencies of parental and filial affection are to be supplied
by the parish, and the natural motives to the exercise of those virtues are
thus to be withdrawn, it may be proper to endeavour to replace them, however
imperfectly, by artificial stimulants, and to make fines, distress warrants,
or imprisonment act as substitutes for gratitude and love. The attempt, however,
is scarcely ever made.

GENERAL REMARKS ON OUT-DOOR
RELIEF.

I.1.70

WE have dwelt at some length on out-door relief, because it apyears to be the
relief which is now most extensively given, and because it appears to contain
in itself the elements of an almost indefinite extension; of an extension, in
short, which may ultimately absorb the whole fund out of which it arises. Among
the elements of extension are the constantly diminishing reluctance to claim
an apparent benefit, the receipt of which imposes no sacrifice, except a sensation
of shame quickly obliterated by habit, even if not prevented by example; the
difficulty often amounting to impossibility on the part of those who administer
and award relief, of ascertaining whether any and what necessity for it exists;
and the existence in many cases of positive motives on their parts to grant
it when unnecessary, or themselves to create the necessity. The first and third
of these sources of mal-administration are common to the towns and to the country;
the second, the difficulty of ascertaining the wants of the applicant, operates
most strongly in the large towns, and is well displayed in the following extract
from the Report of Mr. Chadwick, on the Eastern Division of the Metropolis:—

"I HAVE lived in the parish upwards of 40 years, and have served office upwards
of 12 years, and before that time I had cognizance of much parochial business
with a relation.

"The most injurious portion of the Poor Law system is the out-door relief. I
do not serve a day without seeing some new mischiefs arise from it. In the smaller
parishes, persons are liable to all sorts of influences. In such a parish as
ours, where we administer relief to upwards of 2000 out-door poor, it is utterly
impossible to prevent considerable fraud, whatever vigilance is exercised.

"Has the utmost vigilance been tried?—One man to every 20 would be required
to watch the paupers living out of the parish, and one man to watch every 100
living within the parish; which is an expense of inspection which could not
be borne. Suppose you go to a man's house as a visitor: you ask, where is Smith
(the pauper)? You see his wife or his children, who say they do not know where
he is, but that they believe he is gone in search of work. How are you to tell,
in such a case, whether he is at work or not? It could only be by following
him in the morning; and you must do that every day, because he may be in work
one day, and not another. Suppose you have a shoemaker who demands relief of
you, and you give it him on his declaring that he is out of work. You visit
his place, and you find him in work; you say to him, as I have said to one of
our own paupers, 'Why, Edwards, I thought you said you had no work?' and he
will answer, 'Neither had I any; and I have only got a little job for the
day.' He will also say directly, 'I owe for
my rent; I have not paid my chandler's shop score; I have been summoned, and
I expect an execution out against me, and if you stop my relief, I must come
home,' (that is, he must go into the workhouse). The overseer is immediately
frightened by this, and says, 'What a family that man has got! it will not do
to stop his relief." So that, unless you have a considerable number of
men to watch every pauper every day, you are sure to be cheated. Some of the
Out-door paupers are children, others are women; but, taking one with another,
I think it would require one man's whole time to watch every twenty paupers.

"Does the practice of obtaining out-door relief extend amongst respectable classes
of mechanics, whose work and means of living are tolerably good?—I am
every week astonished by seeing persons come whom I never thought would have
come. The greater number of our out-door paupers are worthless people; but still
the number of decent people who ought to have made provision for themselves,
and who come, is very great, and increasing. One brings another; one member
of a family brings the rest of a family. Thus I find, in two days' relief, the
following names:—'John Arundell, a sawyer, aged 55; his son, William,
aged 22, a wire-drawer; Ann Harris, 58, her husband is in Greenwich Hospital;
her son John, and his wife, also came separately; so does their son, a lad aged
18, a smith.' Thus we have pauper father, pauper wife, pauper son, and pauper
grandchildren, frequently applying on the same relief-day. One neighbour brings
another. Not long since a very young woman, a widow, named Cope, who is not
more than 20 years of age, applied for relief; she had only one child. After
she had obtained relief, I had some suspicion that there was something about
this young woman not like many others. I spoke to her, and pressed her to tell
me the real truth as to how so decent a young woman as herself came to us for
relief: she replied that she was 'gored' into it. That was her expression. I
asked her what she meant by being gored into it. She stated, that where she
was living there were only five cottages, and that the inhabitants of four out
of five of these cottages were receiving relief, two from St. Saviour's, and
two from Newington parish. They had told her that she was not worthy of living
in the same place unless she obtained relief too.

"Indeed, the malady of pauperism has not only got amongst respectable mechanics,
but we find even persons who may be considered of the middle classes, such as
petty masters, small master bricklayers, and other such persons, who have never
before been seen making application to parish officers, now applying. My opinion
is, that they apply in consequence of having witnessed the ease with which others
who might have provided for themselves obtain relief. They naturally say, 'Why
should we be content with half a loaf when we might have a whole one?' A few
days ago a man applied for relief, stating that he was in great distress. On
inquiry, it was found that he held a situation as packer, and actually received
wages of the amount of 20s. per week, at the time he made the application,
and had been in the receipt of them for some time previous. We found that one
woman had received relief from us for two years, whilst she was receiving from
the East India Company a pension of 70l.
per annum. In one instance, we discovered that a man, named James Peaton, was
receiving relief of six different parishes; he belonged to our parish, and he
had picked out five other parishes, which gave relief on the five other days.
He made it his entire business to live on parish pensions, and he received one
week's pension every day.

"Since the inquiry has been made, I have stationed persons at well-known gin
shops to observe the number of paupers who came, and the money they spend; and,
from all their statements, I have drawn the conclusion that 30l. out
of every 100l. of the money given as out-door relief, is spent in the
gin-shops during the same day."

I.1.72

From the preceding evidence it will be seen how zealous must be the agency,
and how intense the vigilance, to prevent fraudulent claims crowding in under
such a system of relief. But it would require still greater vigilance to prevent
the bonâ fide claimants degenerating into impostors; and it is
an aphorism amongst the active parish officers that "cases which are good
today are bad to-morrow, unless they are incessantly watched." A person
obtains relief on the ground of sickness; when he has become capable of returning
to moderate work, he is tempted, by the enjoyment of subsistence without labour,
to conceal his convalescence, and fraudulently extend the period of relief.
When it really depends upon the receivers whether the relief shall cease with
its occasion, it is too much to expect of their virtue that they shall, in any
considerable number of instances, voluntarily forego the pension.

I.1.73

The permanent officers appointed to make inquiries at the residence of the
out-door paupers frankly acknowledge, that it is beyond the powers of any individuals
to prevent an immense amount of fraud. We add the following instances from Mr.
Chadwick's Report:—

"The out-door relief in the city of London would require almost one man
to look after every half dozen of able-bodied men, and then he would only succeed
imperfectly in preventing fraud. They cheat us on all hands. I have had instances
where the masters who have employed out-door paupers have given such answers
to my inquiries, as to leave no doubt in my mind that the master concealed the
real amount of wages, for fear that if he caused the parish to reduce the man's
allowance he should have to pay him higher wages. There is no protection whatever
from the growing evil of the increase of the able-bodied out-door poor, which
is one of the greatest evils of the system, but in finding them labour out of
town."

"With respect to the out-door relief, there must, from the very nature
of it, be an immense deal of fraud. There is no
industry, no inspection, no human skill, which will prevent gross impositions
belonging to this mode of relief.

"By far the greater proportion of our new paupers are persons brought upon the
parish by habits of intemperance, and the others are chiefly pauper children
or hereditary paupers.

"After relief has been received at our board, a great portion of them proceed
with the money to the palaces of gin-shops, which abound in the neighbourhood."

I.1.76

Mr. William Weale, assistant overseer of the parish of Lambeth, whose chief
business is the investigation of the cases of outdoor paupers, after specifying
the modes of examination, concludes by stating, that after all—

"However diligent an assistant overseer or an officer for inquiry, may
be, there are numerous cases which will baffle his utmost diligence and sagacity;
the only test of these cases is making their condition more severe than that
of the lowest class of labourers who obtain their livelihood by honest industry."

I.1.77

Mr. Luke Teather, another officer of great experience in the same business,
adds, that as—

"It is the study of bad paupers to deceive you all they can, and as they
study more their own cases than any inquirer can study each of the whole mass
of different cases which he has to inquire into, they are sure to be successful
in a great many instances. The only protection for the parish is to make the
parish the hardest taskmaster and the worst paymaster that can be applied to."

I.1.78

Another evil connected with out-door relief, and rising from its undefined
character, is the natural tendency to award to the deserving more than is necessary,
or where more than necessary relief is afforded to all, to distinguish the deserving
by extra allowances. The scales which we have already quoted, promulgated by
the magistrates for the county of Cambridge, by those for the town of Cambridge,
and by the magistrates of the Walden division, Essex, all direct the parish
officer to reward or encourage the deserving. The whole evidence shows the danger
of such an attempt. It appears that such endeavours to constitute the distributors
of relief into a tribunal for the reward of merit, out of the property of others,
have not only failed in effecting the benevolent intentions of their promoters,
but have become sources of fraud on the part of the distributors, and of discontent
and violence on the part of the claimants.

I.1.79

Mr. Masterman, who had served the office of headborough, and also the offices
of churchwarden and overseer, in the parish of St. Matthew, Bethnal Green, states,—

"The system of expenditure was bad, in the favouritism exercised as to
the parties to whom relief was given. Many of the landlords of the smaller
tenements have always mustered their friends on the days of election, to get
them appointed governors or guardians of the poor. When parties came to be relieved,
who were tenants of the governors who sat at the Board, the governors have given
testimony to their meritorious characters, and urged that they might have relief.
I have been present when it has been proposed that 1s. 6d. should
be given, when the landlord would say 'Oh, he a very good man, give him 3s.,'
and the 3s. has been awarded. The working of this system would naturally
be, that when one man's tenants were thus favoured, he would favour the tenants
of the others in turn when they came to demand relief. Another consequence is,
that the landlord or his collector, when they collect the rent, are well aware
that the tenant has had money which will pay it.

"I found," says Mr. Chadwick, "that most attempts to administer
public relief according to character, even when those attempts have been made
under circumstances apparently the most favourable, have created great dissatisfaction.
Character being made up of habits, and habits being made up of series of simple
acts, (which we sometimes find it difficult to determine on in our courts of
law, even with all skilled appliances,) it is not surprising that persons in
wealthy or superior stations who have rarely the means of observing or knowing
the daily arts of the labouring classes, usually fail of estimating them, so
as to adjudicate justly, according to the estimation of the claimants. The Rev.
W. Bishop, the rector of Ufton, Berks, stated to me: 'When first I came to this
parish, I instituted rewards for virtuous conduct amongst my parishioners, but
I soon found that I did more mischief than good by the proceeding, and I was
compelled to abandon it. I found that my parishioners, from their situation,
knew more of the objects whom I selected for reward than I possibly could. They
saw actions of which I could obtain no knowledge. With all my desire to do justice,
there were actions which I forgot to take into account; and of those which I
did take into account, they probably often made a more correct estimate than
I could: under these circumstances, I probably was led to decide unjustly, and
excited more ill feeling by my decisions than emulation by my rewards.' He gave
up entirely the idea of rewarding according to character, and adopted other
courses of proceeding.

"In more rude hands, such attempts often excite fierce discontent, by the inequalities
of the distribution amongst claimants, who conceive themselves at least equal
in merit. Private charity, being usually dispensed to separate individuals,
is unattended with the discontents arising from a comparison of the objects
of bounty; but I did not find one magistrate of extensive experience, who had
found it practicable to take character into account, except on rare occasions.
'A man,' it has been said, 'may be a very worthy, good sort of man, but so ought
we all to be: and if every man who is so were to bring in his bill for being
so, who would there be to pay it?'"

I.1.80

A common consequence is, that, to satisfy the clamours of the undeserving,
the general scale of relief is raised; but the ultimate result of such a proceeding
appears always to be, to augment the distress
which it was intended to mitigate, and to render more fierce the discontent
which it was intended to appease. Profuse allowances excite the most extravagant
expectations on the parts of the claimants, who conceive that an inexhaustible
fund is devoted to their use, and that they are wronged to the extent of whatever
falls short of their claims. Such relief partakes of the nature of indiscriminate
alms-giving in its effects, as a bounty on indolence and vice; but the apparently
legal sanction to this parochial alms-giving renders the discontent on denial
the most intense; wherever, indeed, public charities are profusely administered,
we hear, from those who are engaged in their administration, complaints of the
discontent and disorders introduced. Bedford is a town in which money is profusely
dispensed in charity for the partial relief of the labouring classes, without
any return of labour. The following is an extract from a communication on the
subject by the Rev. James Donne, the vicar of St. Paul's, Bedford:—

"The great Bedford Charity has a bad effect on the minds of all the working
classes. They are discontented because they think that there is an ample provision
for the poor whenever they are thrown out of work.

"I have heard an engineer (Mr. Bailey), resident in the town, say that he dare
not employ a Bedford hand, they are so idle.

"A stranger has lately contracted to light the town with gas. He declared that
of all the places where he had undertaken such works, he never met with such
idle workmen as the Bedford men. Thus they show by their actions that the charity
is no real blessing to them, whatever it may prove to the next generation, who
will have the benefit of all the improvements in our schools. But the class
above the working people are also affected by this charity, to their injury.
They conceive they shall be provided for in the almshouses if ever they come
to poverty; and they are not careful and provident, but rather extravagant in
their way of living.

"In times of popular excitement the poorer sort will speak out, and say the
pauper's charity should be theirs, and if they had justice done them they need
not work at all. And having such opportunities of education in our schools,
they entirely neglect the religious education of their children at home. No
doubt there are exceptions, but I believe the rule to be as I state it.

"There are very few labouring men in my parish who save anything, and yet many
contrive, who are beholden to the parish for their subsistence, to spend a good
deal at the beer shop. Drunkenness has greatly increased the last two years.
The beer houses are much frequented on Sundays."

I.1.81

It appears from all our returns, especially from the replies to question 53,
of the Rural Queries, that in every district, the discontent of the labouring
classes is proportioned to the money dispensed in
poor's-rates, or in voluntary charities. The able-bodied unmarried labourers
are discontented, from being put to a disadvantage as compared with the married.
The paupers are discontented, from their expectations being raised by the ordinary
administration of the system, beyond any means of satisfying them. "They,
as well as the independent labourers, to whom the term poor is equally applied,
are instructed," says Mr. Chadwick, "that they have a right to a 'reasonable
subsistence,' or 'a fair subsistence,' or 'an adequate subsistence.'
When I have asked of the rate distributors what 'fair,' or 'reasonable,'
or 'adequate' meant, I have in every instance been answered differently;
some stating they thought it meant such as would give a good allowance of 'meat
every day,' which no poor man (meaning a pauper) should be without; although
a large proportion of the rate-payers do go without it." It is abundantly
shown in the course of this inquiry, that where the terms used by the public
authorities are vague, they are always filled up by the desires of the claimants,
and the desires always wait on the imagination, which is the worst regulated
and the most vivid in the most ignorant of the people. In Newbury and Reading,
the money dispensed in poor's-rates and charity is as great as could be desired
by the warmest advocate either of compulsory or of voluntary relief; and yet,
during the agricultural riots, many of the inhabitants in both towns were under
strong apprehensions of the rising of the very people amongst whom the poor-rates
and charities are so profusely distributed. The violence of most of the mobs
seems to have arisen from an idea that all their privations arose from the cupidity
or fraud of those entrusted with the management of the fund provided for the
poor. Those who work, though receiving good wages, being called poor,
and classed with the really indigent, think themselves entitled to a share of
the "poor funds." Whatever addition is made to allowances under these
circumstances, excites the expectation of still further allowances; increases
the conception of the extent of the right, and ensures proportionate disappointment
and hatred if that expectation is not satisfied. On the other hand, wherever
the objects of expectation have been made definite, where wages, upon the performance
of work, have been substituted for eleemosynary aid, and those wages have been
allowed to remain matter of contract, employment has again produced content,
and kindness become again a source of gratitude.

"I merely mean to state that 2s. is the utmost weekly pension or
allowance gratuitously given to a single able-bodied labourer. An applicant
of this description, if he said that he could not live on his wages, would probably
be taken into the poor-house, or set to work by the parish at perhaps 5s.
a-week; but he would not receive for doing nothing more than 2s.
a-week, while the sums which a married labourer receives for doing nothing increase
with the birth of every additional child."

End of Notes

The cuneiform inscription in the Liberty Fund logo is the earliest-known written appearance of the word "freedom" (amagi), or "liberty." It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.